3 Reasons Why Naras Don't Play Hide-n-Seek
by twice the trouble
Summary: title pretty much says it all. Shikamaru showing us exactly why Nara's don't play Hide-n-seek. only 4 chapters.
1. Reason 1

Hey everyone! I'll warn you now and say this is a short story. Not a one-shot, but it's only going to be four chapters long. I just thought a Nara could easily outsmart a game of hide-n-seek so wouldn't it be cute to see him do it. That and since my regular computer is at the shop I can't work on my Kidnapped one. This is sort of an apology for making you wait so long.

Hope you enjoy,

Trouble 1

Reason 1: They don't want to

One fine day, a six year old Shikamaru was sitting under a tall tree on the school yard, content to watch the clouds pass by throughout his whole recess. But his fellow students had other ideas.

"Shikamaru! Come play Hide-n-seek with us!" Ino yelled a few feet away. Instead of flinching, he simply peeked at her with one eye, unstartled.

"Why?"

"Because I told you to, that's why."

"That's not much of a reason."

"Well, you can't sit under that tree all recess long. That's boring!" Shikamaru closed his eye, dead set on defying her. Until that dreaded statement was said. "And if you do, I'll tell your mother."

With that the young Yamanaka got both of the boy's eyes open and his full attention.

"Seriously?" She nodded. With a sigh the Nara climbed to his feet. "Troublesome blond."

"Hey guys! I got another player!" Ino called back to her group.

Said group included Sakura, Kiba, Choji, and strangely enough, Naruto. Ino usually didn't include him in any of the games she organized so seeing him among the people playing was very strange indeed. Shikamaru wondered absently how much the blond had to beg to get Ino to reconsider. Regardless, all of them came running towards her in order to start the game.

"Ok, whose seeking?" she asked, causing Naruto's hand to shoot into the air simultaneously.

"Let me seek! Please! I'll be the best seeker ever! Datteboyo!"

"Fine, you can seek," she said with a sigh.

"Yes!"

"Stand facing the tree and count to a hundred."

"Ok!"

He spun around to cover his eyes before he started counting. As he did, the rest of the group scattered in all directions, eager to find a good spot before Naruto reached the triple digits. Shikamaru sighed again, reluctantly leaving to look for his own, at a much slower pace.  
-

Naruto didn't quite know how to count to a hundred but he didn't want to tell that to Ino. It took him forever, and swearing to do her school chores for a week, to get her to let him join the game. He wasn't going to ruin it all by telling her he couldn't count to a hundred. So he counted by the tree to as high of a number as he could, then made up a few numbers to go between that and a hundred.

As soon as he thought the right amount of time had passed, he shouted "One hundred!" and went tearing out into the yard in search of his classmates.

The first one he found was Choji. He could hear the crunching of chips from where he hid in the bushes behind the school. Next he found Kiba. It was hard to miss the brown spikey hair poking out from behind the trash can. He found Sakura and Ino hiding together in a tree, talking about their hair so loudly he was surprised he didn't find them first.

But no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find Shikamaru. He searched the entire yard twice but still didn't see the pineapple headed boy. At this point there was only five more minutes left of recess so he got the others to help him look. Yet, when the whistle blew they still hadn't found him.

They went trudging back towards the building only for all five of them to stop in surprise, seeing the Nara leaning against the tree napping. The same tree he had sat at before being disturbed. The one Naruto had been counting at just 20 minutes earlier.

"Shikamaru!" Ino shouted, waking him from his slumber. "What are you doing!?"

"Napping."

"How long have you been napping?"

"How long ago did Naruto start counting?" Everyone just stared at him in surprise.

"Recess is over."

"Oh. Guess I won then." He stretched as he got to his feet, ignoring everyone else's stares.

"We're having a rematch tomorrow!" Ino exclaimed as Shikamaru began to walk away. "This time you're going to be seeking! That way you can't fall asleep!"

"Troublesome."


	2. Reason 2

Hey everyone. So here's reason 2. Finally got my computer back so I can work on my other story.

Hope you enjoy,

Trouble 1  
~~~~~~~~

Reason 2: They don't like to

"Alright Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed at the beginning of recess the next day. "It's your turn to seek today!"

"Do I have to?" The Nara asked in a dull voice.

All six of them were sitting under the tree, well except Ino who was standing trying to get the other's moving. The day was hotter than yesterday, making the other kids lethargic, especially Shikamaru.

"Yes you do."

"I don't even like hide-n-seek."

"Why not? Is it too 'troublesome'?"

"…maybe."

"Typical," she said, shaking her head. She put her hands on her hips defiantly. "You are going to seek today Nara Shikamaru or I'll never leave you alone again!"

"Fine, you don't have to be so troublesome about it," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"Do we have to play today?" Naruto asked, almost panting from the heat. "It's too hot."

"Yes we do. I refuse to be outsmarted by Shikamaru again!" Ino said, placing her hands on her hips. "But if _you _don't want to play, you don't have to."

"No, I'll play! I'll play!" he said eagerly. "Hurry up and count Shikamaru, or we'll never get started."

The Nara in question sighed before he turned around and started counting.  
-

"Man, Shikamaru is taking a long time finding us?" Ino said from her hiding spot in the tree with Sakura.

"Yeah, I guess he's not as much of a genius as he thought," Sakura said with a chuckle. "I wonder how long he's been searching anyways."

They were both about to continue chatting when the whistle blew indicating the end of recess. They looked at each other a bit confused before climbing down.

"He hasn't found us so we won!" Ino cheered as Kiba, Naruto, and Choji appeared from their hiding spots as well. "What, he didn't find you guys either?"

"Nope, I guess he's really bad at this game," Kiba said with a chuckle. They walked towards the door but almost missed a step when they caught sight of their counting tree. Shikamaru was in the same spot as yesterday, napping the day away yet again.

"Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed, waking the boy up yet again.

"Is recess over already?"

"Yes! And you napped all the way through it. So I guess you lost by default."

"I wouldn't say that, I found you didn't I?"

"No you didn't! We found you!"

"You weren't the seeker. It only counts if I see you, not the other way around."

"Recess is over already!"

"You never gave me a time limit," he said simply. "Guess I won again."

"…Rematch. Tomorrow!" Ino exclaimed after a moment of thought.

"Troublesome."


	3. Reason 3

Hey everyone, here's the next chapter. Sorry if there's mistakes, I just finished it about half an hour ago. The last chapter will be up soon I hope. It's more of an epilogue but still worth it in my eyes.

Hope you enjoy,

Trouble 1

ps. sorry about the missing line breaks, I fixed it :)  
~~~~~~~~

Reason 3: No one else likes them to either. Eventually.

"We're definitely going to beat you today Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed as soon as they entered the court yard the next day. Shikamaru was walking behind the group but didn't find it hard to pick out her voice.

"How? By adding more rules?" he asked quietly, yet she still heard him.

"If that's how it has to be then yes, I will add more rules."

"Why don't you just make a rule that says 'Shikamaru isn't allowed to win'?"

"Because that wouldn't be fun and you'd use it as an excuse to fall asleep again."

"I won by falling asleep the last two days," he pointed out, making the blond girl think about it for a moment.

"Then that's the new rule. You're not allowed to fall asleep during our game," she stated triumphantly.

"Seriously? Why should I listen to that rule?"

"Because I'll hurt you if you don't."

"Even though you haven't followed through with either of your other threats, I'm still not chancing it. Too troublesome."

"Then you won't fall asleep?"

"I won't."

"Yes! I win again!" Ino exclaimed as they got to their counting tree.

"We haven't even started yet."

"Then start counting already!" Shikamaru simply rolled his eyes and began his long count to one hundred.  
-

"I see you," Naruto heard Shikamaru say.

The blond boy knew for a fact that there was no other player nearby because no one liked hiding this close to the forest so he had to be talking to him.

"Darn it!" he exclaimed.

He climbed out from behind a small bolder to see Shikamaru facing the opposite dirrection with his hands in his pockets. He lazily looked over his shoulder towards Naruto, his face clearly bored.

"Oh, there was someone here," the Nara muttered to himself before facing forward and walking away.

Naruto stared at him, definitely not expecting a line like that from him. He expected something more like "I saw you from a mile away" or "Your hair made it too easy." Well, he was a genius so maybe a "I knew it" or something like that. This made the pineapple haired boy way too suspicious for even Naruto to ignore.

So, making sure to stay extra stealthy, Naruto followed Shikamaru as he looked for the others. The dark haired boy walked around for a moment before stopping under a climbable tree.

"I see you," he said again.

A moment later Kiba jumped out of the tree swearing. Shikamaru simply muttered "Thought so" and continued on, and Naruto continued following him. Kiba gave him a weird look as he passed but there was no way he was going to stop and explain.

He stayed quiet as Shika came to a large trash can big enough to fit a six year old.

"I see you," he said for the third time. Shikamaru waited for about half a minute before continuing on towards a new possible spot and did it again.

The Nara repeated this about a dozen times before he found them all and Naruto was still confused to why he had done so.

"I found you all," Shikamaru said once everyone was present at the counting tree. "Can I take my nap now?"

"But that's impossible! How did you find us so quickly?" Ino asked.

"It was easy," he said, a faint smirk on his face. "You practically revealed yourselves."

With that statement, everything seemed to make sense to Naruto.

"So that's what you were doing!" he exclaimed happily. "You weren't even looking for us. You just went up to random hiding spots and said 'I see you' and if we were there, we'd come out. Wow, Shikamaru! You really are smart."

The smirk disappeared from Shikamaru's face as Ino's became furious.

"That was cheating!"

"It wasn't against the rules," Shika stated in his defense. Ino was silent for a moment before sighing.

"I give up Shikamaru. You win," she said making the whole group look at her in a confused manor. "Apparently there's no rule that will keep you from winning other than the one about you not allowed to win. But you winning all the time is no fun to anyone else so, I'm sorry Shikamaru, you're no longer allowed to play Hide-n-seek with us."

"Ok."

"Ok? Just _OK_?"

"Yep," he said as he sat under the tree.

"No begging to be let back in? No bargaining? No promising not to win so much anymore?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I'd rather take a nap," he said simply before closing his eyes.

"Fine! Naruto you have to seek," she said before stomping off, not even giving the other blond a chance to answer.

As the others scurried off, Naruto quickly turned towards the tree and started counting. Just as before he got to the twenties and realized he didn't know what else was between that and a hundred. He was about to make them up when someone chimed in.

"Twenty-six," Shikamaru said from the other side of the tree.

"Huh?"

"After twenty-five is twenty-six."

"Oh, thanks!" Naruto said happily before continuing on, occasionally being corrected by Shikamaru. But in the end, he was able to get to a hundred the correct way around. As he ran off he thought that maybe Shikamaru not playing hide-n-seek was better. Not because he didn't like playing with him, but because this way they were all happy. That and he might just learn to count on his own if Shika kept correcting him.


	4. Epilogue

Hey everyone, here's the epilogue. Just a short little thing. And thanks for the reviews!

Hope you enjoy,

Trouble 1  
~~~~~~~~

Epilogue: In the end, they just get banned from it anyways

That afternoon, Shikamaru walked through the front door to his house to be greeted by his parents. Well, his mother anyways. His father was there but he didn't really have room to say anything between all his Yoshino's questions. Not like he tried, talking around that woman was almost impossible.

"How was your day? Did you have fun at school? You played during recess again, right? Ino's mother says that you've been playing Hide-n-seek with Ino and a few others. Is that right?"

She asked in such quick succession that Shikamaru didn't have a chance to answer them. Once she stopped for a breath, he finally said something.

"I was," he said simply before grabbing a snack and sitting next to Shikaku at the table.

"_Was_? Why was?"

"I stopped." He took a bite from his cookie as his father looked overtop his newspaper at him, his interest peeked.

"Why?" Shikaku asked, his voice still sounding as bored as his son's.

"They told me to. They knew I'd keep winning."

"How long did you have to play?"

"Three days."

"Three days?" When Shikamaru nodded his father became impressed. "Took me a week."

Both of them returned to what they were doing only for Yoshino start questioning again.

"Wait a minute Shikaku, this happened to you too?" Shikaku sighed and put down his newspaper completely this time.

"Yes, it happens to all born Nara's that go to the Academy."

"Why is that?"

"We get tired of playing so we find ways to get them to kick us out. Usually takes seven to ten days," he told his wife. The only reason he was explaining so much was because he didn't want to know what would happen if he didn't. "Took me five."

"You said a week."

"School week," he answered as he saw Shikamaru finish his snack and sneak out of the room.

"This isn't the Nara version of a clan rite of passage is it?"

"No."

"Knowing you lot, it's probably because all of you were too lazy to make it official," Yoshino said jokingly.

"It was too troublesome," Shikaku answered, seriously.

"Damn it. Why the heck did I marry into such a lazy clan?" She turned back to the stove to stir dinner as she fumed for a moment. Afterwards she continued with the conversation at hand. "It took you five days?"

"Yes. The same as my father and his father before him."

"What about your great-grandfather? She asked curiously.

"The Academy's not that old," he informed her earning a towel to the face for his troubles. There was silence before she spoke again.

"So, what does it mean that Shikamaru did it in three?"

Shikaku thought for a moment before answering his wife.

"That means he will be able to accomplish great things."

"If he ever gets the motivation," Yoshino said grumpily before turning towards her husband, shaking a spoon at him. "He's too much like you!"

"If you say dear."

"Don't you 'dear' me!"

"Troublesome."


End file.
